Piston stabilizing mechanism



Aug. 12, 1952 J. H. wlGGlNs ETAL PISTON STABILIZING MECHANISM Filed April 28, 1950 FIG.2.

Y mmm. m L I Nw WWA. T mHwnm J JOHN BY M Patented Aug. 12, 1952 PISTON STABILIZING MECHANISM John H. Wiggins and John W. Allen, Chicago, Ill.; said Allen assignor to said Wiggins Application April 28, 1950, Serial No. 158,633

6 Claims.

, 1 This invention relates to stabilizing mechanisms of the kind that are used in dry-seal,

piston-type gas holders, for maintaining the piston in a substantially level or horizontal position, during the rise and fall of the piston.

The object of our invention is to provide an eilicient piston stabilizing mechanism, which, in addition to being inexpensive to construct and easy to maintain in operative condition, during all seasonsof the year, has the following desirable characteristics, t wit:

(a) All of the moving parts of the mechanism are arranged inside of the housing of the apparatus, and hence, are protected from the weather and eiectively prevented from being rendered inoperative by the accumulation of ice thereon;

(b) It is compact and of such design that, notwithstanding the fact that the piston is stabilized and maintained in a substantially level position by co-acting rigid parts that include a member which projects upwardly above the roof of the housing of the apparatus, the upwardly-projecting portion of said member is of considerably less length than the stroke or length of vertical travel of the piston;

(c) It comprises no cables or equivalent flexible elements that co-act with guide rollers or sheaves; and

(d) It is of such design that the forces necessary to keep the piston in a substantially level or horizontal position are distributed in such a manner that deflection in the co-acting parts of the mechanism is reduced to a minimum.

We have herein illustrated our invention ernbodied in a dry seal type gas holder provided with a vertically-movable piston that forms the top wall of the storage chamber of the apparatus.

Figure l of the drawings is a Vertical, transverse sectional View of a gas holder equipped with a stabilizing or leveling mechanism embodying our invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view, taken on the line 2 2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2. n

In the drawings which illustrate a dry seal piston type gas holder, the reference character A designates the circular side wall of a stationary housing that comprises a roof B and a bottom C, and D designates a vertically-movable piston in said housing. The space or joint between the said piston and housing is sealed by a gas-tight, flexible element E, and the piston is provided on its top side with an annular, upwardly-projecting back stop member F that absorbs pressure which the gases in the storage chamber exert on the sealing element E when the piston is at the end of its downward stroke. During the upward stroke of the piston into its extreme high position shown in broken lines in Figure l, the sealing element Eis progressively stripped oli the back-stop member F on the piston, and progressively` applied to the side wall A of the housing of the apparatus.

The piston stabilizing or leveling mechanism .that constitutes our invention, comprises three main parts, to wit, a stationary, vertically-disposed bottom guide G rigidly connected to the bottom C of the housing and projecting upwardly from the center of same, a stationary, verticallydisposed, tubular top guide H rigidly connected to the roof B of the housing in such a way that a portion of said top guide projects downwardly from said roof and a portion'oi said top guide projects upwardly from the roof, and a vertically:- disposed guide I rigidly attached to and projecting upwardly from the piston D and arranged in telescopic relation with saidstationary bottom and top guides G and H, respectively. The bottom guide G is preferably formed from a piece of pipe, and the top guide H is preferably closed at its upper end and has its lower end portion attached to a means that imparts rigidity to same, such, for example, as stays 0r guys I that extend upwardly andradially from the lower end of guide H to the upper end portion of the side wall of the housing to which said stays are rigidly attached. The above mentioned co-acting guides G, H and Iare of such relative lengths that when the piston is in its extreme low position, shown in full lines in Figure l, the vertically-disposed guide I attached to and projecting upwardly from the piston, 'extends the full length of the stationary bottom guide G and also projects upwardly a certain distance into the stationary top guide H, and when the piston is in its extreme high position, shown in broken lines in Figure l, said vertically-disposed guide I extends the full length of the stationary top guide H and also surrounds or telescopes the upper end portion of the stationary bottom guide G. Thus, since the top portion of the stationary bottom guide G is held flxedly by the stationary top guide H on the roof, by bearing through the vertically-disposed guide I attached to the piston, and since the lower end portion of said bottom guide G is held xedly by the bottom C of the housing, said guide G is a stiff member and acts as a vertical beam held at both ends. The guide I that is attached to and moves with the piston, therefore, has its full height to act as a leveling means for the piston, since it can bear on the stationary bottom guide G at its lower end and can bear on the stationary top guide H at its upper end. Since the verticallydisposed guide I rigidly attached to the piston, is held plumb in this manner, the piston is eiectively held in a level or horizontal position. The guide I on Vthe piston is much shorter than would be necessary, if the mechanism used to maintain the piston in a level position were formed by a verticaly-disposed, tubular member on the piston arranged so as to telescope over a depending guide on the roof of the housing, or were formed by a stationary guide attached to the bottom of the housing and projecting upwardly into a tubular guide attached to and projecting upwardly from the piston. This greatly reduces the amount that the guide I on the pist-on must extend above the roof B when the storage chamber is full and the piston is in its extreme high position, or, at the end oi its upward stroke. Since the guide I on the piston is held at its upper and lower ends in any position of the piston, the amount of deflection in the guide I, due to the movement caused by` an unbalanced force on the piston, is kept to a minimum amount.

If the gases stored in the apparatus are saturated with water vapor, some condensation may occur andobiectionable quantities of ice are apt to` become deposited on the exterior of the stationary bottom guide C. In order to prevent such ice from causing the .guides G and I to stick ktogether, and thus interfere with the vertical movement of the piston, we prefer to employ means for breaking or scraping off ice that accumulates on the. guide. C. In the form of our invention' herein illustrated the guide I on the pistonV is'provided on its interior, adjacent its lower end, with a plurality of rigid, inwardlyprojecting plates 2 that project inwardly'towarcls the stationary guide G, but do not directly bear on same, said plates 2 being arranged in spaced relation, as shown in Figure 2. At points between the plates 2', the guide I is also provided with prongs 3 that pro-ject inwardly towards the guide G, said prongs being proportioned so as not to touch the guide G, but to effectively remove ice from same when the guide I moves relatively to the guide-G duringthe rise and fall of the piston. The ice breakers or ice removing devices 2Y and 3, above referred to, may be arranged at the upper ends of the guides G and I, and .instead of being attached to the interior of the movable guide I, as herein shown, theyV may be attached to the exterior of the stationary guide G.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A dryl seal gas holder, comprising a casing provided withv a roof, a piston arranged to move vertically in said casing, a stationary, verticallydisposed tubular guide attached to the roof of the casing and projecting downwardly from same, a stationary, vertically-disposed bottom guide attached to the casing at a point below the piston, an upwardly-projecting, tubular guide on the piston surrounding said bottom guide and provided with a sealed upper end portion which at all times is housed inside oi the dependinT guide on the roof of the casing, and a flexible, gas-tight sealing means attached to the casing side wall and to the piston to seal the joint between the same.

2. An apparatus of the kind described in claim l, in which all 'of said guides are substantially equal in length to the movement of the piston.

3. An apparatus of the kind described in claim l, equipped with ice Scrapers arranged in the space between the bottom guide and piston guide and rigidly attached to one of said guides.

4. A piston-type, dry seal gas holder, comprising a casing prcvided'with a stationary roof and aV bottom, a vertically-movable piston in said casing, a stationary, vertically-disposed guide rigidly attached to the bottom or"y the casing and projecting upwardly therefrom, an upwardlyprojecting, vertically-disposed, tubular guide on the piston arranged in telescoped relationv with said bottom guide, and a third tubular guide mounted on said roof so as to project upwardly and downwardly from same and arranged so that it surrounds only the upper end portiony of the guide on the piston when the piston is in its ei;- treine low position, butcompletely houses said guide on said piston with its upper end positioned inside of the portion of saidthird guide that projects above the roof when the piston is in .its extreme high position.

Anapparatus of the kindfdescribed in claim e provided with guys or stays attached to the upper end portion of said casing and to the lower end portion of said thirdY guide for imparting rigidity to said third guide.

6. An apparatus of the kinddescribed in claim 4, provided with means for preventing iceirom accumulating in objectionable quantities in the annular space between said bottom guide and the guide on the piston.

JOHN H. WIGGINS. JOHN W. ALLEN.

REFERENCES errno The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 666,598 Bryan Jan. 22, 1901 675,356 MacKenzie May 28, 1901 684,849 McGinn Oct. 22, 1901 1,851,158 Day Mar. 29, 1932 2,363,565 Wiggins Nov. 28, 1944 

1. A DRY SEAL GAS HOLDER, COMPRISING A CASING PROVIDED WITH A ROOF, A PISTON ARRANGED TO MOVE VERTICALLY IN SAID CASING, A STATIONARY, VERTICALLYDISPOSED TUBULAR GUIDE ATTACHED TO THE ROOF OF THE CASING AND PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAME, A STATIONARY, VERTICALLY-DISPOSED BOTTOM GUIDE ATTACHED TO THE CASING AT A POINT BELOW THE PISTON, AN UPWARDLY-PROJECTING, TUBULAR GUIDE ON THE PISTON SURROUNDING SAID BOTTOM GUIDE AND PROVIDED WITH A SEALED UPPER END PORTION WHICH AT ALL TIMES IS HOUSED INSIDE OF THE DEPENDING GUIDE ON THE ROOF OF THE CASING, AND A FLEXIBLE, GAS-TIGHT SEALING MEANS ATTACHED TO THE CASING SIDE WALL AND TO THE PISTON TO SEAL THE JOINT BETWEEN THE SAME. 